Olowokandi a hot commodity
Posted: Thursday June 18, 1998 05:57 PM
The hot commodity in the upcoming draft remains Pacific center Michael
Olowokandi, who has Toronto, Denver, Philadelphia, Boston and Golden State
in hot pursuit of his rights. Even the Clippers, who have the number one
pick and were a lock to take Arizona point guard Mike Bibby, have taken a
long look at the 7-footer.
Meanwhile, sources tell me, Vancouver, which has the No. 2 pick and
probably controls Olowokandi's future, has considered keeping him for
themselves, and dealing their own center, Big Country Reeves, to Phoenix
for point guard Steve Nash. Since
Reeves' contract is in the neighborhood of $11 million a season, that would
have also freed up money for Vancouver to sign forward Shareef Abdur Rahim,
who can become a free agent this summer.
Austin likes that tune
The rebuilding of the Utah
Jazz will have to wait at least one more season. Utah passed on
Orlando's 13th pick, and was instead trying to swap its own 29th pick for a
second-round selection. Why?
Sources tell me Utah is trying to squirrel away funds to pay free agent
center Ike Austin, who has an offseason home near Salt Lake City and counts
Karl Malone as
one of his closest friends. Austin was looking for about $8 million a
season, but friends say he would take less to play for Utah. The Jazz, who
will save $3.5 million by not re-signing Chris Morris,
could probably come up with something between $4 and a half to $5 million a
season. It remains to be seen whether that is too deep a discount for a
center who will be 29 in August and has never enjoyed a big NBA pay day.
And now for some notes from around the league: The Houston Rockets would
love to sign Rod
Strickland, but they feel the Wizards will re-sign him. So they have
turned their attention to free agent Kevin Johnson,
who will be renounced by the Suns on July 1.
The Celtics continue to try to
peddle their No. 10 draft selection and Travis Knight,
and would be willing to absorb some of Knight's contract to make it work.
Word out of Sacramento is that power forward Chris Webber is
still not happy about his trade from Washington to the Kings, and is
pushing to be traded yet again.
The Pacers, who pushed the Bulls to the
brink of elimination, plan to work quickly to lock up free agent center Rik Smits and point
guard Travis
Best, who have both told management they want to return next season.
Look for Chicago to sign European prospect Dragan Tarlac, regardless of
whether Michael
Jordan and Scottie Pippen
return to the team.
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